Thinking Ethics

International Standard for Social Responsibility

The Geneva based International Standards Organization has launched the development of an international standard to provide guidelines for social responsibility. The standards are voluntary, will be released in 2008 and will be known as ISO26000 (more).  The development of the guidelines are being discussed by groups from industry, government, labor, consumers and NGOs. Given the lack of trust in authority these days, one can hope that people will agree to follow the recommendations of this body. Or better still - get involved ! www.iso.org.

Great resource for CSR

The Business Ethics Link Library (BELL) from the University of Colorado provides resources for research in business ethics and social responsibility. From their website:

"BELL is a comprehensive starting point for research in corporate ethics and social responsibility. The database provides access to codes of ethics for U.S. companies and trade and professional associations, ethics sites at college and university business programs, industry information resources, and company promotion of social responsibility covering such topics as arts assistance, environmental clean up, charitable giving and community programming. "

Great for people looking for examples before writing their own code of ethics.

Information Privacy and Thought Control

Today a US federal judge denied a Dept of Justice subpoena which would have forced Google to hand over two months of users’ search queries, and limited a request for web addresses from billions to only 50,000 .  This is a key ruling in the world of information privacy – firstly, because it means that while internet companies may have to disclose what their algorithms find (URLs), they do not have to disclose what people search for (unless there is proof of wrong doing as part of a criminal investigation); and secondly because it means that the government does not have unlimited discretion when it comes to accessing information. 

The motive behind the subpoena was difficult to contest – it was to enforce a federal ruling against child pornography online. However the methods by which the government wanted to enforce it were deemed anti-constitutional. There is continued pressure by governments to access information about citizens outside constitutional limitations, as evidenced by recent (warrantless) wiretapping of US citizens, defended by the administration. While this kind of thought control may be expected of “undemocratic” governments such as China (and Google has recently been criticized for providing a censored version of their search engine in China), it should not be the case for democratic governments where individual privacy is enshrined in the constitution.

China draws up code of conduct

From an article in the Daily Telegraph by Richard Spenser entitled "China draws up Mao-style code of conduct for way-ward youth" I found out that the Chinese government was making a push to publish a values list. The code of conduct was revealed in a session of the National People's Congress and is supposed to address the decline in moral values associated with opening of society. It is a sort of to do list with slogans. So Mao's famous saying "serve the people" is becoming "serve and do not disserve the people". It is supposed to deal with official corruption and the ostentations display of wealth by the newly rich. Can't wait for the poster campaign...

New Code of Conduct for Italian Stock Exhange

The Italian bourse presented a new governance code for listed companies this week. It resulted from work done in the Corporate Governance Committee comprised of people from the Borsa Italiana, enrepreneurs and market participants. After their Enron-type scandal - the collapse of the food group Parmalat two years ago, they felt they needed to reassure investors by beefing up the corporate governance rules. The non-binding rules call for companies to limit the number of boards on which their directors can sit. It asks companies to define the concept of an independent director, to publish nomination criteria and to introduce a lead independent director in some cases. It also pushes investors to be more active in shareholder meetings. The code is in line with other similar rules across Europe, and the Borsa is asking companies to adopt the code this  year - for reporting in 2007.

Piggybacking

Lately I have seen several pro and con articles on piggybacking - accessing an open wireless network not protected by a password. Good op/ed piece in the New York Times by Timothy B. Lee called "Hop on my bandwidth" explains many of the points. Commented on Globalethics.org in a piece entitled "Wifi Piggybacking: Stealing or Sharing". Basically some people say that by logging on to an open network, you reduce the bandwidth of the subscriber - who will be reduced to a very slow Internet response time. Also the subscriber pays for the use, and you are stealing his bandwidth. Apart from the security issues, and there are tools to monitor these (use a password, monitor the bandwidth being consumed), Timothy Lee holds to the opinion that it gives a helping hand to people before they can subscribe, or just passing through. He feels it is being neighbourly - like giving a cup of sugar. This probably leaves us with the idea that a little use is OK, but on a regular basis you should have your own subscription. Sort of a "how much use is too much" type of question.

Cosmopolitanism

Good review in Globalethics.org on Prof. Kwame Anthony Appiah's new book entitled "Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers".  Prof. Appiah tries to define some values which should be universal - like obligations to others beyond the family circle, and taking seriously the value of a human life. And goes into distinctions between benign and malign forms of universalism. If the world is a global village, we are going to need discussions like this.

Blogger integrity

Reading an article by Michael Barbaro in the New York Times entitled "Wal-Mart enlist bloggers in its public relations campaign" got me thinking about the different ways companies react to and promote bloggers. The usual consensus is that bloggers speak their own piece, and give sources when they quote other people. Some companies have been known to fire employees forblogging about work - others, such as Microsoft, actually encorage it, as seen by the wide acceptance of Robert Scoble's blog. Since the web is supposed to be a conversation, peer to peer pressure will keep us honest. But what about companies trying to influence bloggers in order to get better PR ? If the bloggers quote where they get their information, then I guess it is OK - but it smacks a bit of manipulation to me.

Returning American Indian artifacts

More on the collectors vs looter subject. An interesting article in the Washington Post by Robert Gutsche describes how US museum collections are shrinking as tribes reclaim artifacts. Federal legislation was passed in 1990 to help museums and tribes deal with what is on public display, but problems persist in caring for the items.

Antiquities collector or looter ?

There seems to be some debate going on in the past month on the ever recurring question of antiquities - are antiquities collectors generous lenders and donors ? or do they sustain the looting of artifacts in other countries ? A lot of attention has been focussed for years on the Elgin marbles - which Greece wants the British Museum to return. Now the Metropolitan Museum of Art has signed an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture. From their press release I found a statement by their Director, Philippe de Montebello regarding the transfer of title of 6 antiquities, purchased in good faith,  back to Italy against a long-term lending program.  He feels that it is "the museum's institutional resposibility, coupled with the highest hopes for continued mutually beneficial relationship with many colleagues in Italy". "This redresses past improprieties in the acquisitions process through a highly equitable arrangement." The Association of Art Museum Directors, comprising institutions from the US, Canada and Mexico,  maintains its right on showing antiquities. They are supposed to come out with ethical guidelines soon.